21. Bella at work
When Severus walked into their quarters after his last class he smiled seeing everything ready on the table to take to St Mungo's. Bobbie greeted him with a hug and a kiss. Right then all the tension he felt from his classes and the worry because of the new potion fell off him like a heavy cloak. Someone was there to have his back even if the potion would fail. He took a quick shower and then they were ready to go.
When they arrived in St Mungo's he noticed the respect everyone gave him. Everybody knew who he was and that he was the one who had brewed the potion to get their patients out of the insanity. He said to the woman on the front desk, "I am here to see the Longbottom's."
No waiting, no questioning, no nothing. The woman said with a friendly smile on her face, "Hello, Professor Snape. Mr and Mrs Longbottom aren't in the same room anymore. We moved them to the rehabilitation ward. It is still on the same floor but you need to go to room number 218."
Severus thanked her and they went where they were told Alice and Frank were now. Severus knocked on the door and then walked in. Frank saw him first and said, "Severus, Bobbie, it is great to see you."
"You two are looking well," Severus replied.
"Thanks to you!" Alice said with a little bit of exuberance. "Not that we know much of anything from the last decade but I can't thank you enough for your kindness," and then she quietly added with some remorse, "and we truly wish we had not been so unkind to you when we were students."
Severus held up his hand to stop her. "Please Alice, the past is the past. I would really rather forget it. I accept your apology but believe me when I say that you were the least of my problems."
"Neville and mother told us. We are very grateful," Frank said. "Like Alice said, we have no recollection from all these years but we have to thank you for giving our son his parents back."
Severus wanted to get away from this embarrassing conversation and said, "Speaking of it. I may have something for you to get you out of the hospital altogether." He pulled two vials out of his pocket. "It is a potion I brewed today and I am hoping it will re-grow the muscles you lost while you were incapacitated. I realize you have no reason to trust me..."
"Are you kidding? If anyone has a reason to trust you it is us. Look at what you did." Alice pointed at herself with both of her hands as well as she could with her weak arms. "I will take anything you give me."
She opened her hand and Severus gave her the open vial. She put the vial to her lips with a shaky hand and swallowed the contents in one gulp. She suddenly writhed and groaned in pain.
"I am sorry Alice, I forgot to mention that it is about as painful as Skele-Gro," Severus said quickly. "It also takes about as long."
Frank had first watched his wife in shock and then said with conviction while holding out his hand so Severus could hand it over, "I will take it as well."
"You don't want to wait and see what happens?" Severus asked.
"No, like Alice said. We trust you. I think we owe you as much," Frank replied. "I want to stand on my own two feet when Neville and my mother are visiting tomorrow."
Severus gave him the other vial after he had opened it for him. Severus and Bobbie sat with them for a while and talked. The first 10-15 minutes were the worst after taking the re-growing potion for muscles, after that it tapered off. Alice suggested calling it Muskle-Gro, since it worked similar to Skele-Gro. Severus thought it was as good a name as any and agreed.
After a while Frank asked, "So, you are a psychiatrist Bobbie?"
"Yes, Minerva hired me... well, actually Albus did when he was still alive but Minerva rehired me to help the children in the school, if they have trouble at home or are bullied... Of course there isn't that much to do anymore after the war, and with the baby coming in the beginning of next year I basically make my own hours."
"I was wondering about that but didn't want to ask. Congratulations you two." Alice said.
"Thank you!" Bobbie and Severus replied in unison.
Then Alice said, "There is this little girl in the ward we were in before. She is about 3 or 4 years old and doesn't speak even though there is nothing wrong with her voice. The healer said she sometimes slept with me at night. Obviously I don't know anything about it. They think she lost her parents in the war and was traumatized by what happened and even got a hold of scissors and cut off all of her hair. They had to shave her head because it looked so bad. After Frank and I were healed she still seems to take a liking to us." She looked at Frank before continuing. "We had always thought about giving Neville a sibling. Of course now he is a grown man but we were talking about taking that little girl home. She doesn't seem to have any family because nobody claimed her and we lost out on raising Neville."
"Do you want me to meet her and see how she feels about it?" Bobbie asked.
"We really would appreciate it. Maybe you would know what to do. We are in this room for two days, and I have to get someone to push me over there in the wheel chair, but I still visit with her and sometimes both of us interact with her for an hour or two," Alice said and sat up and looked surprised. "I think that potion is working already," she stated. She picked up her arms to test her strength and looked at Severus and smiled.
Frank also tried to sit up and noticed a difference. He said, "Severus, I think you have done it again, my friend."
Severus was stunned when Frank called him his friend. Bobbie noticed his embarrassment and directed the attention away from him by asking, "You think we can get you in that wheelchair, Alice and get that little girl over here where it is only you two? She will most likely feel a little more comfortable."
"Yes, let's try it," Alice said with enthusiasm. Severus pushed the wheelchair up against her bed and she slowly swung her legs outside her bed and put her feet on the floor. She then grabbed the armrests of the chair and used her own strength to get herself in. She was a little shaky but she managed. Severus was only there to help if she needed it. He had an expression of relieve on his face which slowly turned into a full-blown gin when he saw that his potion was working.
Bobby was going to take the handles and push her but Alice said, "No, let me try..."
Severus opened the door and slowly but surely Alice wheeled herself out of the door and into the hallway. A healer came out of the door next to them and stared at Alice, knowing that just a little while ago she was so weak that she could hardly feed herself.
When they came to the ward for the insane Bobbie saw a small girl with short cropped blond hair sitting in the corner of the room playing with the frayed hem of her shirt and just staring into space. Her eyes focused when she saw Alice. There was even a slight resemblance of a smile on her face. Alice said to the child, "Do you want to ride with me in this chair?"
The little girl first looked at Bobbie trying to find out if this strange new woman would be okay with it, but when Bobbie just smiled at her she looked back at Alice and nodded. Alice patted her lap and said, "Come here."
The girl climbed up on her lap and Alice wheeled them both back to their room. After the girl got off her lap Alice hoisted herself back to bed and sat down on it. After she patted the bed next to herself the girl sat down beside her.
Bobbie asked Severus if he could ask the healer if they could bring the dogs. She felt that the girl would benefit from the interaction. After Severus had left the room Bobbie explained to the Longbottoms that she had great success with rehabilitating children using her dogs. Severus was gone quite a while and just when Bobbie thought they probably had thrown him out because of such an unorthodox request, the door opened and Severus walked in with the dogs on the leash.
"Wow, you already got them? I thought we could bring them tomorrow or so, but this is even better," Bobbie said.
She took Bella while Severus took Benton with him and sat down with Frank on the bed, who by then had also sat on the side of the side of his bed with his feet on the ground.
Alice said, "Those are beautiful dogs and so calm."
"Thank you," Bobbie said. Then she knelt down in front of the girl and talked to her, "This is Bella. She likes children and she really loves being petted. Would you like to pet her?"
The girl looked at her and then at Bella. Bella had walked up to the girl and gave her a small lick on the top of her hand. The girl giggled when she felt it.
Alice said, "I think she likes you."
Bella just stood there patiently and after a little while licked the girls hand again. There again was a little giggle and then she slowly reached out and touched Bella on the head. Bobbie asked, "Oh yeah, she likes that. Isn't Bella nice and soft?"
The girl smiled and nodded. She continued to pet Bella's head and then touched her soft ears and also leant forward to stroke her on the back. When the girl stopped for a while Bella nudged her soft nose into the girls hand and again another giggle erupted. The girl kept playing with the dogs ears and suddenly slid off the bed to stand right beside Bella and gave her a hug around the neck.
Severus pulled a small ball out of his pocket. Bobbie had told him about children playing with Bella by sitting a little apart from the dog and Bella would push the ball to the children with her nose who in turn rolled it back to Bella. On a hunch he had picked it up when he Flooed back to get the dogs.
Bobbie said, "Oh yes, Uncle Severus got Bella's ball. Do you want to play with her?"
The girl looked at Bobbie and nodded. So Bobbie showed her where to sit on the floor and told her to move her legs apart and then she told Bella to lie down a small distance away. Bella already knew the drill and was already wagging her tail as she plopped to the floor. Severus laid the ball in front of Bella who used her nose to push it into the 'V' of the girls legs. The girl grabbed the ball and looked at Bobbie with a questioning face.
Bobbie said, "Now roll it back to Bella."
When the girl did and Bella rolled it right back with her nose the child let out a squeal of delight. They watched the two for a while and then Severus asked Bobbie, "Uncle Severus...?"
All three grownups grinned at him and Bobbie explained, "I thought if Frank and Alice are really adopting her we should lay some groundwork. It could be that we are seeing them once in a while and Neville will be her big brother."
"Fair enough...!" Severus agreed.
They got into a conversation about things that happened while Frank and Alice were incapacitated and then suddenly they heard a child's voice, "No doggie, dere." They looked over to the girl and she pointed into the corner were Bella apparently had missed the ball.
Bella got up and retrieved the ball and then returned to her spot where she again nudged the ball to the child. Alice whispered with tears in her eyes, "She spoke..."
Severus explained that Bobbie had trained the dogs to sometimes 'miss' the ball intentionally to get a reaction out of the children.
They deliberately kept going with their conversation so the girl wouldn't know that they had heard her. A little while later they heard her again after a giggle, "De ball is ober dere." She pointed into the corner.
"Does she lose the ball sometimes?" Bobbie asked the child.
The girl nodded and then said, "Yah!"
"Maybe she's tired. You know it is pretty late. How about you go to bed also and I'll bring Bella back tomorrow. Would you like that?"
The girl nodded, "Yah, Bella back."
"Okay, would you like to say goodnight to Bella?" Bobbie asked.
"Night!" the child said and waved at Bella.
"How about those two over there?" Bobbie pointed at Frank and Alice.
"Night!" she waved at Frank and Alice and after a short thought also at Severus and Bobbie. She stood up to hug Bella and then went to Benton and looked up at Severus.
Severus said, "This is Benton and he would also like a hug."
"Bent... Ben..." the child tried and Severus said, "Ben is fine. We sometimes call him that."
Severus stroked Benton's head and the girl walked up and gave the dog a deep hug with her eyes closed.
"Come, I will take you to bed." Alice said and then she scooted off the bed onto the wheelchair and the girl sat back in her lap and Alice wheeled herself and the girl to the door.
Bobbie was going with them but Alice said with a smile, "No I can do it..."
Severus held the door open for them and then they disappeared in the hallway. Severus checked his watch and said to Frank, "I am sorry but we have to get going. Please say good night to Alice for us. As you heard we will be back tomorrow."
They both shook hands with Frank and then they went back to Hogwarts.
888
When Bobbie was laying in Severus's arms shortly before they went to sleep Severus asked, "Couldn't you find out that girls name and who her parents were with your Nevari powers?"
"I knew her name from the moment I touched her but I did not reveal it for two reasons. One is that the healers would want to know how I got it after they weren't able to find out themselves. I do trust Frank and Alice but I decided not to tell them either just in case they call her by her name by accident and then the healers would ask them how they knew. I don't know the healers and I don't know if they are trustworthy. Since there were Death Eaters working in the Ministry there could be some working as healers. The other reason I didn't let them know her name is that a name is something very private for people, especially for children. I want her to feel comfortable enough with the Longbottom's to tell them herself. Now that she is comfortable enough to speak in front of us I doubt it will take very long."
"Are you going to tell me her name?" Severus asked.
"Of course. It is Cindy. She had already learned to write it and that is why I also know how to spell it even though there are several ways to do so."
"What about her parents names?" Severus asked.
"Yeah, Mum and Dad." Bobbie said with a smile but then got serious again. "She is too young to know their names. It is always easier with the flashbacks of grownups but with kids the names of their parents are basically Mum and Dad because that is how they know them. I think the reason why the child attached herself to Alice is because Alice looks a little like her mother."
"Interesting! So you know what her parents looked like?"
"Yes, I also know what their house looked like on the inside and that they had a dog and a cat."
"Well, the house isn't there anymore. Frank told me that Neville said it had burned to the ground. They tried finding relatives of the girl and found out from the people who lived in the house next to theirs that they had moved in only a week prior to the attack and nobody knows where they came from."
"I think the Longbottom's will be good for her."
"I agree. I am looking forward having our own little girl." Severus kissed her on the top of her head while lovingly stroking her baby bump.
888
The next day Severus cut his lunch time short and brewed ten vials of 'Muskle-Gro' after the head healer of St Mungo's had sent an owl in the morning requesting some of the potion following the miraculous recovery of the Longbottom's. He could whip up the potion in about 25 minutes but it took all of his concentration.
He and Bobbie took the 'Muskle-Gro' with them when they went to visit the Longbottom's in the evening. They dropped the vials off with the head healer before making their way to room 218. When they approached the room the door was open and Neville and Augusta were already there. So was the little girl. Bobbie had told Alice the day before not to push her too hard and let her get comfortable on her own terms. When the dogs walked into the room in front of Severus and Bobbie, Cindy jumped up from Alice's bed where she had been sitting and ran to them with excitement and called, "Bella, Ben."
Neville said to his mother, "Mum, I think you need to get a dog when you take her home."
"Merlin help me...!" his grandmother rolled her eyes.
"Come on Mum, you can handle a dog," Frank said with a smile.
The child who remembered where the ball came from last time went to Severus and tugged on his frock coat asking, "Bella play?"
"You want the ball?" he asked her.
She nodded with excitement. Severus took the ball from his pocket and handed it to her then looked around and said, "I think it will be a little crowded with everyone in here."
Frank got up and walked to the wheelchairs and said with a grin, "These can go. We don't need them anymore."
He and Severus rolled both of the chairs out of the room. While they were in the hallway Frank said, "Alice and I are being discharged tomorrow. We are taking the child with us. We filed for temporary foster care and will start the adoption process as soon as possible."
"That is great news. Congratulations!" Severus said.
Frank said, "You know Severus, we owe it all to you."
Severus replied, "Frank please don't. I'm not comfortable receiving gratitude. Just ask my wife. It is driving her mad," he smiled.
Frank snorted, "Fair enough but you have my gratitude anyway."
They walked into the room and just caught Bobbie pointing at Benton and saying, "Benton speak" and the dog let out a 'woof'. Then she pointed as herself saying, "Bobbie". After that she pointed at Bella and said, "Bella speak" and Bella let out a 'woof". Next she pointed at Severus and Severus said his name. Whomever she pointed to said his or her name. Once in a while in between she pointed at one of the dogs and the girl said the name with the dogs letting out a little 'woof'.
When she finally pointed at the girl, the girl said, "Cindy".
Bobbie clapped her hands and said, "Yay, now we all know everyone's names."
The evening progressed and Cindy got more and more comfortable with everyone. Bella of course was still the one she was drawn to the most. Just before Alice took the child back to her own bed Bobbie asked Cindy, "So are you ready to go home with your new Mum and Dad?"
"Morrow!" Cindy said.
"Yes, tomorrow!" Bobbie said. "Only one more time sleeping and then you go home. Good night." Bobbie said and waved at her.
"Night!" Cindy turned around to everyone and waved and they all waved back.
Severus and Bobbie headed back soon after.
888
Hermione had heard from Neville that Severus had a hard time filling all the orders for the potion against the Cruciatus insanity. Saturday morning she phoned Bobbie and asked if she could be of any help.
Bobbie asked her, "Don't you have anything better to do on a Saturday than help with brewing potions?"
She replied, "Well no, actually not. Ron and Harry are going to a Quidditch match and you know me and Quidditch," she chuckled. "Also, I think those guys need a boy's day out. I had a ticket but ended up giving it to Neville. You would actually do me a favor. I was going to visit Minerva today anyway but I could come over a little earlier."
"Why don't I ask Severus and I will call you back," Bobbie said.
"Yes, sounds good. Talk to you in a bit..."
The women hung up and Bobbie went to the bathroom where Severus was getting ready for breakfast. "Hermione called and offered to help with brewing."
"Doesn't she have anything better to do on the weekend?" Severus asked.
"That is exactly what I asked her." Bobbie then told him what Hermione had said.
"Well, Miss Granger was always my best student and I can't remember any potion that she botched. I don't see why not."
"Okay, I will call her. I also think it is about time you and Hermione are on a first name basis. She and I are friends long enough now and she helped with the potion for my grandfather."
"I will consider it...," Severus said.
888
It turned out that Severus and Hermione ended up brewing most of the Saturday and made quite a bit of progress, and by the end of the day they were calling each other by their first names. Bobbie helped as much as she was able, which meant first preparing ingredients and then later packaging and sending the orders by owl. Minerva helped with the shipping also. They were done around eight in the evening and Minerva said she would tell the house elves to make a late dinner for them. Then Severus suggested, "I have a better idea. If it isn't too late for you ladies, we could all get cleaned up and I'll take you out to that new restaurant in Diagon Alley. It is the least I can do and I promised you, Minerva, that I would do that anyway."
Minerva told Hermione to take the prefects' bathroom and Bobbie offered some of her dresses which, with her pregnancy weren't appropriate at the moment anyway. Severus sent an owl to the restaurant letting them know to reserve a table for four. Everyone was ready to Apparate shortly before 9 o'clock.
When they entered the restaurant they saw that it was quite crowded and to Severus's amusement the Malfoy's who happened to be there again, this time without Draco, hadn't managed to get the private room once again. Mrs Greyborow saw them standing at the entrance and went straight to them and greeted them. Then she said, "I don't have a table for you out here but the Minister of Magic is sitting with his wife in the private room. When they heard that you were coming tonight Minister Shacklebolt mentioned that they hoped you would join them."
Severus said, "We don't mind at all. Thank you Mrs Greyborow."
She led them to the private room and Bobbie leaned in to Severus's ear and said, "That'll chap Narcissa's ass."
Severus and Minerva, who had heard the story of Bobbies interrupted birthday dinner and had also heard what Bobbie had just said, looked at each other and chuckled in amusement. Minerva who had a good view outside the door just before the waitress closed it said, "Good heavens! If looks could kill...!"
"What was that Minerva?" Kingsley asked as he greeted her, and after everyone had said their greetings and Kingsley had introduced his wife, Minerva told him that Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy looked like they were fuming.
Of course then Severus had to relay the whole story which brought about a good round of laughter. Severus, Minerva, Bobbie and Hermione gave the waitress their order after glancing through their menus, and then all six joined in a relaxed conversation about the Longbottom's recovery and their upcoming adoption of Cindy as well as the marketing of the Cruciatus cure and the Muskle-Gro. Kingsley and his wife had eaten earlier, so they only stayed until Severus, Minerva, Hermione and Bobbie got their food and then said their goodbyes.
Before he left Kingsley said to Severus, "Get some sleep and since tomorrow is Sunday, I suggest you take the day off. A few days more or less until everyone gets their orders won't make a difference. Everyone knows that it will take a while to brew."
"I had a lot of help today. These three beautiful ladies deserve a nice dinner." He smiled while motioning at Minerva, Hermione and Bobbie.
Kingsley looked at Hermione and said, "Right, Ron went with Harry and Neville to the Quidditch game." He waved and said, "Enjoy your meals." And then he and his wife were gone.
By the time they had finished their meal the restaurant had gotten pretty empty. Luckily the Malfoy's had also graced them with their absence by then. Severus offered to Apparate home with Hermione to make sure she would get home safely, but she said she would be okay because she could Apparate straight into her living room. She promised that she would bring Bobbie's dress back the next day but Bobbie laughed and said, "Take your time. I don't need it for at least 5 more months."
They all said goodbye and Severus thanked Hermione and Minerva again for the help who in turn thanked him for the wonderful evening out.
